230 ROSE-COLOURED STARLING. 



in Spain. Until June 3rd 1875 it was merely known as an almost 

 annual summer-visitor to Italy, but on that day commenced an 

 irruption of flock after flock, following up large flights of locusts, 

 and the ruined castle of Villafranca in the province of Verona was 

 soon occupied by some twelve or fourteen thousand Rose-coloured 

 Starlings, which speedily ejected the original feathered inhabitants. 

 The first eggs were laid about June 17th ; by July loth the young 

 were fledged; and by the 14th all had taken their departure. In 

 Bulgaria, the Dobrudscha, Southern Russia, the vicinity of Smyrna 

 in Asia Minor, and in other places, large colonies have been found 

 nesting, though not regularly ; while localities inhabited by thousands 

 in one year may be absolutely deserted the next. Eastward, the 

 Rose-coloured Starling extends through Turkestan to Lake Saisan ; 

 numbers winter in India ; vast flocks traverse Palestine in spring ; 

 and on migration the bird has occurred at intervals in North Africa. 

 The nest, composed of dry grass with a few feathers, is generally 

 placed in some suitable crevice in ruins, railway-cuttings, quarries 

 and cliffs, or among loose stones on the side of a ravine being occa- 

 sionally open to the sky. The 5-6 eggs are glossy bluish-white : 

 measurements I'l by '83 in. The female sits very closely, and is 

 fed by the male with locusts, apparently the favourite food of old 

 and young ; for which reason the bird is protected in the Caucasus 

 and other districts. In India, however, it is destructive to grain 

 during the cold season, and it also devours mulberries, while it will 

 eat cockroaches in confinement. The note is a harsh and con- 

 tinuous babble, which is described by Canon Tristram as deafening 

 when uttered by dense flocks in rapid flight. Although so con- 

 spicuous in colour when on the ground or perched upon a tree, yet 

 a small party of birds will suddenly become almost invisible by 

 dropping among oleander bushes, the pink flowers of which exactly 

 match the colour of the breast. 



The adult male has the long crest, head, neck and throat glossy 

 violet-black ; wings and tail metallic greenish-black ; back, shoulders, 

 breast and belly rose-pink ; bill yellowish-pink, black at the base ; 

 legs yellowish-brown. Length 8-5 ; wing 5 in. The female is less 

 brightly tinted and has a smaller crest. The young bird at first 

 is greyish-brown above, with buff margins to the wing- and tail- 

 feathers ; the throat is white, the lower parts are striated buffish- 

 white, the bill is brown ; but in September the moult into the adult 

 plumage commences. In June 1890 a bird with a r^^ instead of a 

 black head was taken alive in Bulgaria (P.Z.S. 1890, p. 590). 



